You can’t handle the TOOTH!

During the first 15 months of dad duty, the hardest part for me has been the sleep deprivation.

When the parenting stress piles on, some moms need Calgon to take them away. Some dads use earplugs to get through the day. I just gots to have my 8 hours.

During the past four to five months my son Montgomery has finally gotten the hint and has been more obliged to making his pop happy by sleeping sometimes up to 10 hours straight. Twelve is the record – an early father’s day gift that I couldn’t completely enjoy since I kept having to check on him every 20 minutes to see if he was ok.

But as I began to bask in the routine of showing up to work rested and rejuvenated, the great prophet Peter Hartlaub warned me not to get too comfortable.

Holy hell. I may not have been listening to my colleagues that closely back then. But I now hear my kid loud and clear the past few teeth.

While I’ve heard the average for teething to start is around 6 or 7 months (with some urban legends that it’s possible for babies to be born with teeth), Monty’s didn’t start coming in until after his first birthday.

The molar of Monty’s story: Teething BITES!

I dunno if being older means he feels the pain more, but he certainly knows how to express it louder than he’s ever expressed anything before. Mike Adamick’s Starbucks tip doesn’t seem to do the trick, since I rarely have venti vanilla lattes nearby at 3 a.m. and I never remember to stock up in the day when Monty seems to be doing fine.

From what I understand, my parents would dab a bit of whiskey on my gums when I was a teething infant. While that explains a lot about me, it doesn’t do much good for my boy as my wife (and revisionist history parents) claim that’s out of the question for our babies today.

We’ve tried several legit tips on helping the little toothy one out. I can’t honestly say which piece of advice has been the most effective.

Although Dr. Del can say from experience that dabbing a little bit of whiskey on YOUR gums while your little one is screaming in the middle of the night does take a bit of the edge off.